amicide

English

Alternative forms

• ambicide

Etymology

Misspelling of amicicide, from Latin amicus (“friend”) + caedo (“I kill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæm.ɪ.saɪd/

Noun

amicide (uncountable)

1. The act of killing a friend.
   • 1881, History of Jackson County, Michigan‎^[1], page 465:

     Friends looked on the corpse of him they loved, and among the truest mourners was the unintentional amicide.

   • 2002 Autumn, Aspasia Velissariou, ““This thing was only designed for show and form”: The Vicissitudes of Resemblance in Congreve's Incognita”, in Journal of the Short Story in English, volume 39:

     Hippolito, shattered by his realization that he had almost committed “the most execrable act of amicide,” blames himself for “his blindness in not knowing his dearest friend” (495).

   • 2006, Zacharias P Thundy, “Classical Analogues—Eastern and Western—of Sir Gawain”, in Sir Gawain and the Classical Tradition: Essays on the Ancient Antecedents:

     The separated head of Namuci followed Indra, accusing him of amicide and Brahmicide, wherever Indra went.

   • 2014, A. Short, The Origins of the Vietnam War‎^[2], page 270:

     Perhaps 'amicide' sounds too flippant but for another Director of the CIA, William Colby, and many others, what he called the American-sponsored overthrow of Diem was the worst mistake of the Vietnam War.

2. The accidental killing of a member of one's own side in warfare.
   • 1982, Charles R. Schrader, Amicide: The Problem of Friendly Fire in Modern War:
   • 2000, Frank L. Grzyb, A Story for All Americans: Vietnam, Victims, and Veterans‎^[3], page 197:

     It was called amicide. friendly fire, or blue-on-blue.

   • 2006, Bruce W, Fowler & William C. McCorkle, Automated Target Recognition and Fratricide Reduction:

     Fratricide (or amicide) is a terrible consequence of combat operations.

   • 2011 Winter, Michael J Davidson, “Friendly fire and the limits of the military justice system”, in Naval War College Review:

     Friendly fire, also called "amicide," "fratricide," or "blue on blue," has been a constant problem in warfare since the beginning of recorded time.